POLAND – The town’s code enforcement officer has put school officials on notice that Poland Regional High School must comply with the town’s rules or face not opening its doors this fall.

In a letter to school officials, Code Enforcement Officer Arthur Dunlap listed several violations to the high school’s site-plan approval. Most of the citations referred to inappropriate or unsafe parking habits and incorrect designations for reserved, visitor and handicapped parking spots.

In addition, Dunlap noted the lack of landscaping required for buffer and erosion control and destructive uses of ATVs, motorcycles and snowmobiles.

“These items need to be addressed as soon as possible,” stated Dunlap’s letter. “If not, Violation Notices will be issued and the school may not be allowed to open for the fall semester because of safety problems.”

Dunlap’s letter evoked terse responses from School Committee members and an official, more diplomatic, response from School Union 29’s operations director, Gordon Murray.

“We’re very concerned with the tone of the letter,” said School Committee Chairman Ike Levine. “Gordon Murray took it very seriously. To say we’ve done nothing is ridiculous. We didn’t appreciate (Dunlap’s) threatening to shut us down.”

Murray, who was maintenance director at the high school before taking on the school union job, responded to each complaint in his own letter.

“We are dealing with the issues,” said Murray in a telephone interview. “Some of them had been rectified by the time I got the letter. But I’ll be meeting with the principal later this summer, and we’ll come up with a plan to address these concerns.”

School Principal Derek Pierce said that he was aware of problems along routes 11 and 26 but never received any complaints. Pierce said he recalled a couple of times when buses from visiting schools had to be towed because they got stuck in areas not designated for parking.

Signs went up last spring to warn drivers of no parking along the state roads and tow-away areas around the school building. School staff was directed to no longer park next to the building in the fire lanes, Pierce said.

“I’m confident that we’ll be open in the fall,” he said.

However, Planning Board member Larry Moreau said during a joint meeting of the town’s Board of Selectmen, School Committee and Budget Committee on June 29 that it was the result of frustration over the past five years.

“From the day it was opened, there have been certain restrictions put on there by the Planning Board, and the school administration has chosen to ignore them,” Moreau said. “For five years, they haven’t complied with the conditions put on them by the Planning Board.”

Selectmen Steve Robinson noted that town officials enforce conditions placed on private homes and businesses, and that the same expectations should apply to the school.

“We need to make sure that our side of the fence is just as clean,” said Robinson. “The school needs to live under the same rules.”